The veteran diplomat, who served as the head of the Israeli embassy in Turkey from 2014 to 2016, is the first female ambassador to Cairo since the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty; three other women selected by same committee to serve as ambassadors.

Itamar Eichner|Published: 10.30.18 , 11:11

The top appointments committee of the Foreign Ministry, headed by its Director General Yuval Rotem, has appointed Amira Oron as Israel's ambassador to Egypt.

In an unprecedented decision, three other women were chosen by the same committee to serve as ambassadors.

Oron will be the first female ambassador to Cairo since the Egypt-Israel peace treaty was signed in 1979. She is the second woman to serve as an ambassador in an Arab state after Einat Klein—who was Israel's top diplomatic representative in Jordan.

Amira Oron

Oron is a veteran Israeli diplomat who previously served as Israel's ambassador to Turkey for two years. She began working in the Foreign Ministry in 1991 and during her time there occupied several positions, including the deputy director of the media department in the Arab world at the Israeli Embassy in Egypt.

Following the Mavi Marmara flotilla raid, Turkey lowered the status of Israel’s ambassador to that of an embassy official—a position which Oron fulfilled from 2014 to 2016—becoming the first woman to be appointed as the head of the embassy in Turkey. She studied Orientalism and is fluent in Arabic.

The committee made a series of additional appointments.

Rodica Radian, who is currently the deputy director general of West Europe at the ministry, was appointed ambassador to Madrid. Deputy Director General of Africa Division Yoram Elrom was appointed ambassador to Sofia. Boaz Moda'i was appointed ambassador to Bratislava.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon was appointed ambassador to Brussels. Alex Ben Zvi was appointed ambassador to Warsaw. Orly Gil was appointed ambassador to Riga. Ran Hedges was appointed as ambassador to Tbilisi and Medina Rosenberg will serve as an ambassador in Santiago.